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Ecosystems at different scales
Marine ecosystems contain living organisms such as fish, plankton, and marine plants. They also include water, temperature, nutrients, and seabed-habitat structures. These components exist together and interact with each other.
Ecosystems range from small areas around a single rock to coastal regions and vast areas such as the Irish Sea or Atlantic Ocean. Understanding these systems provides essential environmental context when working with marine data.
Fish in the food web
Fish depend on wider marine ecosystems for survival, growth, and reproduction. Physical conditions, chemical conditions, and food-web interactions shape their lives. As predators and prey, fish connect different parts of the food web and remain central to ecosystem-based research.
How fishing affects ecosystems
Fishing activity can affect the wider ecosystem as well as targeted fish stocks.
Direct impacts
Direct impacts include catching non-target species as bycatch, discarding unwanted catch, and damaging seabed habitats through fishing gear.
Indirect impacts
Removing species from the food web can alter predator–prey relationships and change how the ecosystem functions over time.
Applying an ecosystem approach to fisheries
We use an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF), which recognises that fish stocks must be managed within the context of the wider ecosystem. The approach considers environmental impacts alongside catch data and aims to reduce harm to habitats and non-target species.
Our multidisciplinary surveys connect information about fish populations with their physical and biological environment. This provides integrated data for research.